If you live in Freeport and hang around Basin Bayou, you’ve probably seen him. Local folks, especially fishermen, have been watching a giant gator in the small bayou all summer. And on Friday night, there were at least five boats filled with gator hunters, all hoping to glimpse him again.
In the end, he was brought down by two men and a boy who hooked him and lost him and found him again. The gator, measuring 13 feet, 6 3/4 inches, is believed to weigh close to 1,000 pounds. It’s currently the ninth largest ever killed in the state of Florida.
Finally, they tied him to the cleats of the boat and towed him to shore. It took seven men and Cade to tug him from the water into a freezer truck. Dalton, who is a gator and hog-hunting guide, said Bass Pro Shops has reached out to him about buying the gator’s skin for a display.
An officer from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission came out to see the gator and guessed it weighed between 900 and 1,000 pounds, Morrison said. The animal put up quite a fight.
He first showed himself about 1 a.m., but he got away after a 45-minute fight.
They went over to the grassy shoreline and were shining lights down into the water when they spotted the gator in about 2 feet of water. After a couple of hours and a lot of rope burn, they subdued him.
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